Linda McCutcheon's Obituary

Linda Sue McCutcheon, formerly of Bayfield, WI, went to be with the Lord on Thursday, December 02, 2010 at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, MN. She was 58. Linda was a resident of Siloam Springs, AR.

Linda was born to George and May Pinckney of Bayfield on January 27, 1953. She married Donald McCutcheon on December 5, 1970 in Bayfield at Faith Baptist Church. Their marriage was an example that their children strive to emulate.
They celebrated their 40^{th anniversary this year.}

Linda graduated from Bayfield High School in 1970, and the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College—Ashland with an Associates Degree in Administrative Assistant in 1993. During her life she had many wonderful life experiences. She worked at M&I Bank of Ashland, Ashland Health and Rehab, the family business; McCutcheon Builders of Bayfield, and Arvest Bank of Siloam Springs,AR.

Linda immensely enjoyed quilting, family gatherings, celebrations, and church involvement. She played piano and organ for Faith Baptist Church for about 40 years, and was a fervent cheerleader for all her children’s activities.
Linda displayed a deep faith in Jesus Christ as her Savior. She had a sincere peace about facing her departure from this earth. This, along with the love and support of her family and friends, is what helped her "finish well".

Linda is survived by her husband Donald (Siloam Springs); her daughter Lisa (McCutcheon) Halim and husband, Mohammed Halim (Dublin, CA), daughter Deb (McCutcheon) Meierotto and husband, Jay Meierotto (Ashland); her son Mark McCutcheon and his wife Jenny (Rochester, MN) and son Alan McCutcheon and his wife Sarah (EauPinckney (Ashland); her brothers Dick Pinckney (Uncasville, CT) and Tom Rubenoff (Brookline, MA); and her sister, JoAnne Dormady (Ashland). She is also survived by 12 grandchildren: Miriam and Adam Halim; Parker and Christian Meierotto; Hannah, Carter, Grace, and Nora McCutcheon; Sophie, Sydney, Carson, and Cate McCutcheon.

Linda was predeceased by her father, George, and her grandson, David Halim.

There are two memorial services scheduled: Friday, December 10 at Faith Baptist Church in Bayfield and Monday, December 13 at First Baptist Church in Siloam Springs, AR. Visitation for both services is at 10:00am, with the service to follow at 11:00am. A lunch reception will be provided following the Bayfield memorial service.
Thank you to Faith Baptist Church in Bayfield, WI; First Baptist Church in Siloam Springs, AR; Christ Community Church in Rochester, MN; and several other congregations who have supported us. Our family has been—and continues to be—carried along by your prayer and support.

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

Memories

I have been looking through many photos of Mom.  I thought that I would post some of my own personal photos.

This was taken at Mom and Dad's Bayfield home.  Look at all those apples!

I am pretty sure that this was taken Thanksgiving 2009.

Grandma and Gracie are carving pumpkins together.

We like to visit over Mom and Dad over Easter.  This was taken in Arkansas this year.

I love seeing their love!

Please, pray for Don today as he drives to Bayfield alone.  This will be a new journey for him as he visits their Bayfield home and relives many wonderful memories.

Memorial Services

Do you have something that you'd like to say about Linda and her life?  Well, you will have an opportunity at each service to share.  There will be an "open mic" time in Bayfield and in Arkansas.  We (the family) just wanted others to have a chance to share...if that was your personal desire.

Also, this will not be the last blog post.  I will be sharing photos from each memorial service.  Our very last blog post - will be a time for everyone to share some words of encouragement to Don in the comment section.

Lisa flew home yesterday to CA (We miss you already, Lisa!) and Alan's family came to visit yesterday from WI.  This is Carson TRYING to teach Grandpa how to play the game, Angry Birds.  :)  I don't think Grandpa is as good as Carson but at least he tried!!

Mark, Alan, Sarah, and Dad also played a game of Settlers on Dad's 40th wedding anniversary.  Congratulations, Dad on 40 years!

In the midst of their sadness...the grand-kids also found joy!  This is their "group hug".  :)

Linda's Memorial Information

Mom's first service will be held at:
Faith Baptist Church - Bayfield, WI
Friday, December 10th
10:00am - Visitation
11:00am - Memorial Service  (luncheon to following the service)

Mom's second service will be held at:
First Baptist Church - Siloam Springs, AR
Monday, December 13th
10:00am -Visitation
11:00am - Memorial Service

We are looking forward to sharing many wonderful hugs with all of you!  Thank you for your MANY prayers, cards, meals, gifts, and amazing support!!  We love you and we'll see you soon.

Mom's New Journey

Mom began her new journey with God this morning.  She passed away, very peacefully at 2:30am - December 2nd, 2010.  Lisa and I had the privilege of being with her when God called her home.   

All of Don and Linda's kids were by her side yesterday.  It was wonderful for everyone to have a chance to tell Mom how much she was/is loved.   Mom was also able to express her love and say goodbye to her family.

The family is doing good but we are all very tired.  It was a long night/morning.  Please, pray for rest for the family as they begin to plan two memorial services.  God has been by our side every step of this journey.  We will greatly miss Mom but we are glad that her pain is over.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

FYI:  Soon, we will be posting information on the memorial services...in Bayfield and in Arkansas.

We love you all!!!

The Journey

This morning, Mom's care was switched over to "comfort care".  She is at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, MN with Dad, Mark and Jenny by her side.  

All of Don and Linda's kids are coming to be with her today...to celebrate her life.  We are all so blessed by this woman called, Linda McCutcheon.     

A new prayer request (11-30-10)

Please pray for Mom.  She has been experiencing severe pain to the point where Dad can't help her.  So we had an ambulance transport her to the Emergency Room to get her pain levels managed.  She was admitted to the hospital and will be staying at least tonight.

On a positive note, we're so thankful that God orchestrated the premature visit of Sonny (Dad's older brother) and his wife, Margaret. They were not scheduled to arrive until Thursday night; but then, as they were traveling north, Margaret changed her mind (fearing the weather).  As a result, Margaret is volunteering to stay at the hospital tonight so that Dad can get much-needed sleep.  Praise God for His glimpses of mercy, and for getting Margaret's attention!!

Specific Prayer Requests

Here are two current (and specific) prayer requests:

1.  Linda's sleep has been very restless.  She is struggling with bad dreams again.  She also wakes up thinking that she is experiencing breathing problems...even though her breathing is actually fine.  Mom's lack of sleep also directly affects Dad's amount of sleep.  Please, pray for peaceful rest for both Linda and Don.

2.  Mom is also experiencing some stomach pain.  We currently aren't sure what the cause is.  Although, we do know that her stomach pain makes her appetite disappear.  Who would want to eat when their tummy feels icky?  

Please join us in praying for these specific requests!  Thank you so much!

Letters to Santa

Some of  Don and Linda's grandkids wrote letters to Santa.  I thought that I should share them with you.

Adam - 2 

Nora - 4

Gracie - 5

Carter - 7

I saved these two for last!  :)

Hannah - 8

Miriam - 12



Thanksgiving 2010

Our Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful!  The whole family was together...all 22 of us.  We were so blessed by the generosity of those in Rochester and Eau Claire that our entire meal was donated by friends.  Simply amazing!!

We even had a tooth come out on Thanksgiving!  Congratulations, Sophie!

We also got to celebrate Deb's birthday together on Wednesday.  Happy birthday, Deb!  We are thankful for YOU!

Dad gave Mark a lesson on carving the Turkey.

The food was great and enjoyed by all.

It was also Cate's birthday this month!  Happy 2nd birthday, Beautiful Girl!

Everyone (even the kids) signed a total of 17 thank you notes to those that donated food for our Thanksgiving meal.  WOW!  That's a lot of generous people!! 

Thank you so much to all those that helped with our Thanksgiving meal.  It was so neat for all of our family (kids too) to see the love of God poured out on us.

Next...we will be looking forward to celebrating Don and Linda's 40th wedding anniversary on December 5th!!

The Quilt

Here are some photos of Lisa and Debbie putting the quilt together.  Great job, Girls!!

Happy 40th Anniversary!

On December 5th, Don and Linda McCutcheon will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary!  We took advantage of being together (The whole family was together for Thanksgiving) and gave our gifts to Mom and Dad.

Each family made squares for a lap quilt for Mom.  Debbie sewed the top together (I have photos of that too) and Lisa will finish it. 

Can you tell what Dad got?

Happy Anniversary to a wonderful couple!  We love you both!!

Quilt

Thank you to all the Wood Lake Quilting Ladies that spent time sewing Linda's new quilt!  It's beautiful!  She can feel the love that was put into each and every stitch.

November 20th Update

Dr. Coleman has informed Mom and Dad that the current cancer is from Mom's previous kidney cancer in 2007.  So, they get a few weeks off to rest, relax and gain more strength.   If Mom can get stronger, they can do chemo treatments.  The doctors are saying that only 20% of people respond to the treatments with this type of cancer.  Hey, we'll take that 20%!!!  God doesn't care about the doctors statistics.  :)  He IS the great physician!! 

On December 6th, Mom will have a CAT scan, echo cardiogram and more blood tests.  On December 7th, Mom and Dad will meet with Dr. Coleman and discuss possible future treatments.  They will also be evaluating Mom's physical strength - to see what her ability is to handle chemo treatments.   Currently, Mom is using her walker.

On a different note...this week will be filled with great family!  Sonny and Margaret (Don's brother and wife from Arizona) are flying in on Sunday...and will be here for a few days.  We are also excited to see  Lisa, Halim, Miriam, and Adam (from California)who are also flying in on Sunday too.  Later on in the week, we get to see Alan's and Deb's wonderful families as Thanksgiving gets closer.  It will be so much fun to have the whole family together again for a few days!!   We are also very blessed to have such wonderful friends here in Rochester, MN and Eau Claire, WI!   We have so much food being given to us on Thanksgiving from many thoughtful people in those towns.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to ALL those ladies and families that are giving to the McCutcheon family this Thanksgiving Day!!!  The generosity has been amazing! 

New Stuff!

Mom is came home from the hospital last night!  :)  We are so happy to have her back with us. 

I also have an answer to prayer to share.  Dad and I have been trying to get some medical equipment  (hospital bed, walker, shower seat...)  in the house for Mom.  Well, I learned that it's not very easy to deal with insurance companies...when you are living in a different state!  :)  Alan suggested that we try the American Cancer Society and see if they can help us.  That was great advice, Alan!  They referred us to an organization called, "Rochester Medical Mission".  They are only opened one day a week (from 7am - 9:30am)...and that was TODAY!  The supplies were given out on a "first come - first serve" basis.  Dad and Mark left this morning to see what they could find.  Well, God was watching out for us.  For a $50 donation, they came home with a great electrical bed...walker...shower seat and other needed equipment!    Praise the Lord!!! 

I just had to take a photo of Mom's cute feet!  The blanket and socks are two of MANY gifts that their Arkansas family sent to them.   Thank you!